Lexie
by katwinchester
Summary: The team are pulled into a dangerous mystery after the death of a couple with previous connections to Torchwood. As well as solving the mystery they have to protect the couples daughter Lexie, who for some reason Jack seems to be very protective of.
1. Chapter 1

A/N. Hi everyone, it's been a while, but i'm back with a new story. I have to be up front though and say that while i will try and update regularly real life is busy at the moment. The thing is i really missed my writing and i've had a few ideas going around in my head that i wanted to write about. I find that writing relaxes me when i'm stressed :) Anyway this story is going to be slightly AU because although all the events that we have seen on tv have happened, everyone is very much alive, so obviously it strays from canon in that respect. I do have my reasons for wanting these events to still have happened. There will also be plenty of Janto in the story. I hope my writing skills haven't got too rusty, and that you all enjoy. Please review they always make my day. Kat :)

I own nothing.

Chapter 1.

It was a Wednesday morning and the Torchwood team were in the Hub, bored. The Rift had been quiet for the past few days. In fact it had been so quiet even all the paperwork was up to date. Tosh was working on a new project, Gwen was reading a magazine, Owen was looking at something on his computer and Ianto hadn't been seen since he went up to Jack's office with his coffee an hour ago.

The silence was broken by the sound of Gwen's phone ringing. She picked it up off her desk and looked at the caller ID before answering it. 'Hi Andy, how can I help you?' This got the other two's attention, because sometimes Andy got them new leads. 'Ok…uh hu…' The only problem was they were only getting Gwen's side of the conversation and that didn't give much away. 'That's a terrible thing to have happened, but so far I don't understand what that has to do with us?' There was a brief pause then, 'She did?...Ok… What's the name and address?' Gwen managed to find a pen and started writing on the magazine she had earlier been reading. 'Ok, I'll give him the message. Thanks Andy.'

'Something come up?' asked Owen hopefully.

'Maybe, I need to talk to Jack' replied Gwen looking warily up to his office.

'Good luck if you're going up to his office when he's had teaboy in there for the last hour.' Owen smirked.

'I've learnt from my mistakes,' said Gwen remembering the time she caught them in the hot house. She tapped her comms and hoped that Jack had his on or else she was going to have to go up there with her eyes shut. 'Jack, I need to talk to you. Is it safe to come up to your office?'

'If by safe you mean is everyone up here fully clothed, then yes it's safe, mores the pity,' came Jack's reply.

Gwen walked up the stairs to Jack's office and took a cautious step inside, noting Ianto sitting on one side of the desk, Jack on the other. The fact that there were a few papers on the floor and the grin on Jack's face made Gwen realise the picture wasn't quite as innocent as it looked.

'What can I do for you Gwen,' asked Jack.

'Andy just called me.'

'Does he have something for us?' asked Ianto.

'I'm not sure,' replied Gwen. At the two men's confused looks she continued, 'He's at the scene of a double murder. Neighbours heard a disturbance and when the police entered they found the dead couple in the front room of their house. Upon further inspection they found a young woman hiding upstairs, presumably their daughter.'

'So far I'm not seeing why he called you,' interrupted Jack.

'I'm getting to that. Anyway Andy managed to coax the girl out of hiding, but she wouldn't say anything, well not until Andy asked her if there was anyone he could call and she asked for you.'

'Me?' Jack answered confused.

'Yes, you. Won't speak to anyone else.'

'Do you have a name?'

'Family name is Sanders and the address is in Grangetown.'

At this Jack visibly paled. 'Are you sure he said Sanders,' he all but whispered.

'Yeah, guy's name was Michael.'

'You knew them,' said Ianto softly reaching over the desk for Jack's hand and starting to rub soothing circles on the back of it with his thumb.

'Yeah we worked together. Did Andy say if Lexie was ok..? The daughter' he added at their confused looks.

'Apparently she has some cuts, but other than that he doesn't know, because she won't let anyone near her. Andy said she looked ready to bolt when the paramedics came in.'

'Damn it' cursed Jack standing up abruptly and pulling his coat on before storming out of his office, Gwen and Ianto hurrying after him.

'Jack, wait where are you going?' called Gwen.

'I'm going to talk to Lexie.'

'Then we should come with you.'

'No,' said Jack stopping to turn and face the others, including Tosh and Owen who were trying to work out what was going on. 'I'm going to get Lexie and find out what happened first.'

'When you say get Lexie, you don't mean you're bringing her here do you?' Gwen enquired.

'That's exactly what I'm going to do.' Jack paused as he saw all four of his team open their mouths to speak. He put up a hand to silence them. 'Look I know right now you have a lot of questions, but I don't have time. You need to trust me and I will explain it all when I get back. I promise we'll meet in the boardroom as soon as I'm back and I will tell you everything.'

'But Jack…'

'No Gwen, I won't be long.' Jack then turned back around and left his four stunned team members standing in the Hub wondering what had just happened.

Tosh was the first to react, hurrying over to her computer and typing frantically on the keyboard. Owen and Gwen soon followed to see what she was trying to do. Ianto meanwhile, went to the kitchen to make them all a coffee, although if he were to be honest with himself he needed a minute alone to gather his thoughts. His mind was whirring as to who this Lexie was and what she meant to Jack. He refused to admit that he was feeling a little jealous and hurt over the fact that Jack had kept this girl a secret; then again Jack had many secrets. He took a deep breath, he was being silly and he had to pull himself together. He knew that Jack loved him and they had never been stronger since the incident a while back with the 456 where he had narrowly avoided death. Jack had even started to use the word couple, so, he reasoned to himself, Jack must have a good reason for keeping quiet about Lexie.

He finished the drinks and then joined the others, 'Found anything Tosh?' he asked.

'I think so. Here look in the personnel files. Michael Sanders is an ex-employee.'

Ianto sagged a little in relief; of course Jack would know the daughter of someone he worked with.

'I didn't think people ever left this job,' remarked Owen.

'Well according to this he didn't have much choice. He was injured in a weevil attack in 1991 and had to leave on medical grounds. They still used him on occasion though due to his extensive knowledge of alien languages and great research skills.'

'Anything about Lexie?' asked Gwen.

'So far the only thing I can find is that the Sanders adopted her in 1994. Hang on.' Tosh kept typing, her fingers moving as a blur. 'There's something here, but it's heavily encrypted. Never seen anything like it on an old file before. Someone tried to make sure no-one would ever get into it.'

'They didn't know about you though, did they Tosh,' said Owen squeezing her arm gently and making her blush.

'Thanks.' There was silence for a couple of minutes before Tosh exclaimed, 'I'm in!'

'Never doubted it,' replied Ianto.

'Oh my…' said Tosh as she read through the file on screen. 'I think I'm starting to see why this file was so well hidden.'


	2. Chapter 2

A/N. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, alerted and favourited this story so far, it means a lot. I hope you enjoy the next chapter where you get to meet Lexie. This chapter raises more questions, but they will all be answered eventually. So enjoy and please review, they really do motivate me. Kat :)

Chapter 2.

Jack floored the accelerator of the SUV as he headed to the Sanders address. He knew that he should have given the team a better explanation, but he didn't have the time, he needed to find out what had happened and if Lexie was okay. He knew what they were probably thinking, although if he were honest he was most worried about what Ianto would be thinking. Jack had a sneaking suspicion though that Tosh was right at that moment searching the files for information on Lexie. Jack just had to hope that the encryption of the more sensitive information would hold her off until he got back. There were things in Lexie's file that were better heard first hand.

Jack pulled up outside of the Sander's house, not caring that the SUV was pretty much in the middle of the road. He strode through the crime scene tape calling out Torchwood as he did so, ignoring the muttering from the P.C on duty. Andy came hurrying out of the door to greet him.

'Captain Harkness, glad you could make it.'

'What's going on Andy?' asked Jack.

'From what we can tell there was no forced entry, the couple look like they put up a fight, but we are yet to determine cause of death, they are downstairs in the lounge. The girl was found hiding upstairs, she has some cuts suggesting whoever did this was disturbed before they could kill her too.'

'Or they needed her alive,' mused Jack more to himself than Andy. 'Where is she?'

'She's in her room, still not said anything other than to ask for you.'

Jack nodded his thanks and then made his way into the house and up the stairs. He brushed past the officer posted on Lexie's door and entered the room. Lexie was sitting on her bed with her face buried in her arms, which were hugging her knees to her body. She sensed that someone had entered the room and lifted her head, 'Jack?'

'Hey Lexie,' he replied softly, at a loss for anything else to say.

At his words Lexie got up off the bed and all but flung herself at him. He wrapped his arms around her protectively while she sobbed into his chest. After a while the sobs settled down and Jack steered them so they were sitting on the bed. Lexie pulled away and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. 'Sorry, I got your shirt all wet,' she said apologetically.

'Wouldn't be the first time, would it,' replied Jack and Lexie smiled slightly.

'I guess not, although I was younger last time.'

'Considering the circumstances I think you're entitled,' said Jack sadly. 'I need to know if you're injured, other than the cuts that I can see.' Jack could see two cuts across her face, and also one on her arm through a rip in her sleeve.

At his words though Lexie flinched, 'They'll be fine, nothing I can't handle.'

'I wasn't suggesting I go get anyone, I just need to know if you're hurt anywhere not visible.'

'I'm going to have some bruising on my legs where I fell, but that's it. I was lucky.' As she finished Jack could see the tears brimming in her eyes.

'Okay, we can clean your cuts up when we get back to the Hub.'

'What!' exclaimed Lexie. 'No way.'

'I know how you feel about the place, but at the moment it's the safest option. I need to get you out of here, and I need to find out what happened. You know I promised to keep you safe.'

'What about your team though?'

'They'll be fine. You will be safe with them.' Lexie looked at Jack disbelievingly at this. 'You will.'

'Until they find out about me.'

'It won't make a difference. I should have told them before I left about you, but I was so worried I came straight here. I will have to talk to them when I get back.'

'You won't leave me alone with them.'

Jack sighed he knew this wasn't going to be easy, Lexie's previous experience with Torchwood had not been good, and that was putting it mildly. 'No, not until you feel you can trust them.' Now came the part Jack had been putting off. 'I have to ask Lexie, what happened here today?'

'I'm not entirely sure, it all happened so fast. I was up here studying when I heard mum yell and things smashing. I ran downstairs and there was this man and woman fighting with mum and dad. Then the man pulled something out of his pocket and aimed it at dad and he fell down. I ran at the woman, but she pushed me away and I fell and hit my head. The man then grabbed me and tried to get me out the door, but mum hit him from behind and I managed to get out of his grip. She screamed at me to run, so I came up here and hid. Then I heard the sirens and the next thing I knew that police officer came in here and found me.'

'Did you know them?' Lexie shook her head. 'Do you think your parents did because there was no forced entry?'

'No, I don't know how they got in because I never heard anyone at the door.' She paused for a minute, 'But…'

'What?'

'The weapon that they had, I didn't see it properly, but it didn't look like any weapon I had ever seen before and I could vaguely see some weird symbols on it.' She stopped having to compose herself for a minute before saying, 'They could have killed me Jack, but they didn't. Why kill my parents and not me?'

Jack put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. 'I don't know, but I will find out who did this and they are going to pay.'

'What if they come back for me? I mean they wanted something.' Lexie was starting to panic now.

'This is why I need to get you back to the Hub; we can keep you safe while we work out what's going on. You can help us with a photo fit so that we know what they look like.' There was more to the events of today and Jack was determined to get to the bottom of them. The Sander's had been good people, two of only a few who had survived Torchwood, and the way they had taken Lexie in showed just how compassionate they had been.

'What about the police, they are going to want to talk to me.'

'Don't worry about them.' Jack stood up. 'Just put anything you might need into a bag and meet me downstairs.' He exited the room and went downstairs to find Andy. He knew he should probably go and look at the crime scene, but he couldn't bring himself to do so at the moment. 'I'm taking Lexie back with me. I need you to secure this scene and I'll have my team over here as soon as I can to check it out.'

'So it is one of yours?' asked Andy.

'Could be.'

'What about the couple?'

'For now I want you to keep them in the police department morgue. I'll send Owen over in a while to collect them; at the moment I don't want them where Lexie might see them.'

'That's okay, I know exactly where they can be placed until Owen comes. I'll make sure they are looked after.'

'Thanks Andy.' Jack smiled at him and then waited for Lexie. Andy had turned out to be a great asset inside the police force over the past few years, which Jack appreciated.

Lexie appeared in the hallway a moment later clutching her bag somewhat apprehensively. 'Come on then let's get it over with,' she said resignedly.

'It's not going to be that bad, you'll see.' Jack hoped he sounded confident, although he knew Lexie could probably tell he was a little apprehensive himself. He had a lot of explaining to do, but he knew his team would understand and would be fine with Lexie. This would be nothing like 1994.

With one last glance at the house Lexie followed Jack to the SUV and climbed in. Once she had her seatbelt on, Jack left for the Hub, calling Ianto to let him know that he was on his way back.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N. Thank you to those of you who have reviewed, alerted and favourited the story, it is very much appreciated. On to the next chapter in which you start to get some answers. It doesn't flow quite as well as i wanted it too, but i think it turned out alright. In this chapter Gwen might not come across well, but she will make up for it in later chapters :) Please review. Kat x

Chapter 3.

Ianto hung up his phone. 'That was Jack. He's on his way back and wants us to meet in the boardroom.'

'Does he have Lexie with him?' enquired Gwen.

'I assume so, he didn't actually say.'

He's going to know we tried looking in her file,' Gwen stated.

'Yeah, well he should have given us some answers before rushing off or what does he expect?' grumbled Owen.

'Maybe he thought we could show some restraint,' answered Ianto.

Owen snorted, 'Because Harkness is a model of restraint himself.'

Ianto just rolled his eyes. He was not in the mood for a sniping match with Owen.

'We might as well go and wait for Jack in the boardroom, he'll be here soon,' said Tosh. Her joy at getting into the file had been short lived because the information in there was clearly incomplete, leaving them with more questions than answers. There was also a video file Tosh had found, but hadn't had time to fully recover. This had left her somewhat frustrated.

X

A few minutes after the team had gathered in the boardroom, the cog door alarm sounded signalling Jack's entrance. He walked into the Hub and then turned when he realised that Lexie wasn't with him, she was hovering nervously in the doorway.

'Come on, there's no one down here. They're all in the boardroom.' Jack held his hand out to her. Lexie walked across the threshold and into the Hub for the first time in sixteen years. She took the proffered hand and then glanced up in the direction of the boardroom. 'You okay?' asked Jack.

'Yeah, I just need a minute to adjust. Kind of sensitive to all the emotions at the moment.'

'Right, let me get you some antiseptic wipes to clean your cuts up with and then I'll go and talk to the team.'

'I'll come up with you.'

'No, you stay down here and rest. It's the last thing you need after everything you've been through today.'

'Look Jack I appreciate you trying to protect me, but I know exactly what you have to tell them and I might as well be part of it. Hearing it from my point of view might be beneficial. They are gonna have questions and I suppose I will have to deal with them sooner or later.'

Jack sighed, 'Fine, it's only fair I suppose. Just try not to get to…' he paused for a minute, looking for the right word, 'defensive with them.'

Lexie smiled, 'You were going to say hostile, weren't you.'

'No, that thought never crossed my mind.' He smiled and then let go of her hand so he could go down into the med bay to retrieve the antiseptic wipes. He helped her with the cuts of her face and then left her to sort out the ones on her arm. When they were sufficiently clean and Jack was convinced they weren't as bad as they looked, he led the way off to the boardroom and his awaiting team.

As soon as they walked into the room the team turned their gaze on them. They took in Lexie's appearance, she was tall, had an athletic build, long brown hair and big brown eyes that were looking decidedly blood shot. They also noticed the cuts on her face. Jack walked to his seat at the head of the table, pulling another chair up next to him so that Lexie was sat between him and Ianto. He had decided that out of everyone Ianto was probably the one Lexie would warm to quickest.

'Right before we get into anything, introductions. Lexie, this is my team, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato and Ianto Jones. Everyone this is Lexie.' Jack said pointing out who was who.

Owen had been quietly looking at Lexie since she came in to try and assess her injuries. 'Do you need me to look at those cuts?' he asked.

At his words Lexie visibly flinched, she shook her head, 'No, they really aren't as bad as they look.'

Owen was about to say something else when Jack interrupted. 'She's fine Owen.'

'So are you going to tell us what's going on?' asked Gwen.

'It's possible that whoever is responsible for the events of today had technology they shouldn't be in possession of. When the meeting's over I want you and Tosh to go over to the house to see if you can find anything.'

Gwen sighed this was not what she had meant by her question. She was surprised when Lexie spoke next.

'What was in my file? I mean it's obvious you looked at it and didn't get the answers you wanted. We might as well get it out in the open now.'

Tosh shifted a little uncomfortably before saying, 'It said that in 1994 Torchwood was called to a Rift alert in Bute Park. When they got there they found two armed soldiers who it turned out had fallen through the Rift from the 50th century. It goes on to say that you were found nearby with you mother who had been killed by the soldiers after they had come through. There was some kind of video clip too.'

Lexie turned to Jack, 'I like what you did there.'

'What really happened because that file was obviously tampered with,' said Gwen.

'Technically it's all true, Jack just edited one part out. My mother was killed by those two soldiers, except it happened before they came through the Rift, not after.'

'But that would mean…' Gwen stopped mid-sentence as the realisation hit her. From the looks on the others faces they had reached the same conclusion.

'You came through the Rift too,' said Ianto, speaking for the first time.

'What happened?' asked Tosh.

'Long story, but the short version is where I'm from, it wasn't exactly a peaceful time. My mum and I were running from the soldiers, but got too near to the Rift, there was an explosion and here I am.'

'In your time people knew about the Rift?'

''Oh yeah. I'm from a colony not too dissimilar from Earth, the Rift runs right through it. Everyone knows where to avoid. Although when you're running away from something you don't always pay a great deal of attention to where you are going. One minute I'm running, the next I'm in some strange place and the first thing I notice is Jack.'

'It took me a while to coax her into coming with me, but once I did she clung on to me and wouldn't let go,' said Jack remembering that day clearly.

'That was because I trusted you; it was the others I had a problem with.'

'This is what I don't understand,' interjected Gwen. 'It seems to me that, all things considered, you have done alright here. Torchwood seems to have played a big part in that, yet you seem to have some big grudge against the place.'

Lexie fixed Gwen with a hard stare that the others were glad they weren't on the receiving end of. Jack sighed he should have seen this coming and he wished Gwen had thought before she had spoken.

'You really have no idea do you?' At Gwen's blank look she continued. 'You have no idea of what this place was capable of. You have had the good fortune to work for Jack who has moved as far away as possible from the old Torchwood mentality. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for 1994, back then they very much adhered to the London ways. Even had the same motto.'

'If it's alien it's ours,' said Ianto.

'Subtitled, to do whatever the hell we want with.'

'They did something to you, didn't they?' whispered Tosh.

Lexie nodded, tears forming in her eyes. She wiped them away quickly and shut her eyes for a moment. Jack reached out and laid his hand on her arm in comfort.

'What you have to understand is that in the future people evolve and can do things people nowadays can't. Me, I'm empathic and they couldn't wait to test my limits.'

'That means you're sensitive to emotions right?' said Owen.

'Yeah, but it's more than just knowing how a person feels. If it's a really intense emotion I feel it too.'

'You were only eight though,' said Gwen, not quite wanting to believe they would hurt an eight year old.

'Yet that didn't stop them.' Turning to Jack she said, 'I think you should show them the video clip.'

X


	4. Chapter 4

A/N. Hi, i'm back. I think i mentioned at the start that my postings will be a bit erractic but even i didn't anticipate such a long gap! Sorry for the delay. I'm on holiday at the moment so hopefully chapters will be a little more regular. This was a hard chapter to write because there is quite a lot over explanation in it. I hope it is okay, and that it makes sense. You get to learn about what happened to Lexie in the past. Enjoy the chapter and please review, they always help to inspire me. Kat :)

Chapter 4.

'No way' replied Jack with such vehemence that he took the team by surprise.

'Come on Jack it's the only way they are gonna get the answers they want.'

'I don't care; you do not need to be put through seeing that on top of everything that's happened today.'

Lexie gave Jack a sad smile, 'I appreciate the concern Jack, but I lived through it. I still get the occasional nightmare to prove that. Look I admit that video clip isn't exactly high on my to watch list, but you want me to trust your team right?' Jack nodded. 'The only way I can even begin to do that is for them to know why I dislike this place so much, get everything out in the open from the start. That clip explains it better than either of us could in words. I realise it's not easy for you to watch either.'

Jack sighed, he knew she was right but he still didn't want to show that clip. He looked at Lexie, 'Are you sure?'

'I'm sure.'

Jack turned to address his team, 'what I'm about to show is not easy to view, so I'm warning you now. It's a video clip from the medical bay in '94 on the day we found Lexie. After we found Lexie, her mother and those soldiers we brought them back here. I had a feeling that Lexie had empathic abilities before she told me, there was just something about the way she reacted to people, especially when we got back here.' He turned back to look at Lexie, 'I'll never forget the way you reacted to Dr Taylor.'

'Yeah well that's because he scared the crap out of me, I could feel real darkness coming from him, even though he had this caring façade.' Lexie shuddered at the memory. 'The problem was someone obviously heard me talking to Jack about what I could do and passed it on Taylor. He came over and told Jack that he wanted to check me out to make sure I was okay, but I could tell it was more than that. I was so frightened.'

Jack continued, 'I refused to let him look at Lexie while she was obviously so terrified, but he wouldn't give up, kept going on about how Torchwood had rights over anything alien that came through the Rift to Earth. Next thing I know I feel something hard hit me from behind and Lexie screaming before it all went dark as I hit the floor.' There was a collective intake of breath around the boardroom as Jack said this.

'They then hauled me down to the medical bay.' Lexie said. 'The video clip will show you what happened next.

The other four watched as Jack bought up Lexie's file on screen and clicked on the video clip, entering the password that Tosh had been unable to break earlier, all of them nervous as to what they were going to see. On the screen came the medical bay, looking much like it did today, there was a man on one of the beds that was dressed liked a soldier, obviously one of the ones that had fallen through the Rift with Lexie. A man in his fifties then came on to the screen, 'This is Dr Taylor preparing for a test on a female with empathic abilities. This is the first test of this kind and I am intent on finding out how far the limits of these abilities can be pushed.' Taylor then moved away from the screen and out of the medical bay, a moment later raised voices could be heard, obviously this was where Jack and Taylor had argued, then came a scream and Taylor appeared back on the screen, followed by another man in a white coat who was carrying a small girl who looked terrified. Once the other man sat the girl down, it was obvious it was Lexie, she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly all the while looking at the two men with tear filled eyes. Taylor picked up what looked like a stun gun and handed it to the other man who went and stood next to the soldier. Taylor then attached a monitor lead to Lexie's arm that took in all her vital signs. At this point she looked too terrified to even move. Taylor nodded at the other man and he then proceeded to shock the soldier with the stun gun, he cried out in pain and so did Lexie. 'Turn up the voltage,' said Taylor. The other man did as he was told and then stunned the soldier again causing him to pass out. Lexie on the other hand screamed in pain and was seen to curl in on herself, saying 'stop' over and over again. Her vital signs were going wild, but Taylor just laughed which made Lexie cry even harder.

At this point Jack stopped the video and looked back round at his team. Gwen and Tosh both had tears in their eyes and Owen and Ianto just looked horror struck. Lexie was looking at the floor.

'Shit', cursed Owen breaking the silence. 'Those sadistic bastards had the audacity to call themselves Doctors.' He shook his head unable to comprehend what he had just seen.

'So they hurt the soldier to see how much that would hurt you because of your ability?' asked Tosh.

'It would have been worse than that though, wouldn't it?' interjected Ianto. 'Not only would you have felt his pain, but you would have felt Dr Taylor's glee at what he was doing.'

'Yep that was exactly it. It was so confusing being able to feel that soldiers pain and Taylor's joy at the same time. I swear that guy had no soul.'

'What happened to them?' asked Gwen.

'Once I regained consciousness I went down into the medical bay and stopped them. I took the stun gun off Taylor's assistant and turned it on him and Taylor. I then put them in the cells until Alex got back. Once I told him what had happened we retconned them back so far they couldn't even remember their own names. I believe they ended up in a psychiatric facility. After that things started to change around here and we started moving away from the way Torchwood 1 worked.'

'It certainly explains why you don't like doctors,' said Owen. 'I hope you come to realise that not all Torchwood doctors are like that.'

Lexie looked up hesitantly at him and replied, 'give me some time.'

Jack smiled; this was actually going better than he thought. 'Right now all that's out in the open I hope we can move on. Ianto, Owen, Tosh and Gwen, you now know all about Lexie and how she came to be here so I'd appreciate you not asking her anymore questions,' Jack was mainly focused on Gwen as he said this, 'and Lexie, I want you to give them a chance.' They all nodded.

'Okay, so back to today. Tosh and Gwen I need you to go over to the Sanders house and see if you can pick up anything unusual. Owen I want you to go down to the M.E and see what you can find out from him and do your own checks too.' Jack didn't want to say the word test in front of Lexie, but he knew Owen would know what he wanted. 'Ianto I have some research I need you to do.'

Owen, Tosh and Gwen got up and left picking up their equipment on the way before heading off to their destinations.

'I really need to clean up and change; you said something about showers on the way here?' Lexie said to Jack.

'Yes, if you go back down into the main area of the Hub and down the corridor immediately opposite the sofa, you'll see the shower room.'

'Thanks' Lexie stood up and walked out of the boardroom, smiling at the two men as she left.

As soon as she was out of the room Jack got up out of his chair and stood in front of Ianto. 'You're not too mad at me are you?'

Ianto looked up at him confused, 'why would I be mad?'

'For not telling you about Lexie before now. I hate to think what you thought when I rushed out of here earlier.'

Ianto smiled slightly and took Jack's hand in his own. 'I won't lie, I was confused, and maybe a little hurt. I also realised that you must have had a good reason not to have told anyone about Lexie, which you obviously did.'

'You may not believe this but I was going to tell you about her. After the last time I saw her I resolved that I would introduce the two of you. I know she has her issues about Torchwood and people who work here, but I knew she'd be okay with you. I just never knew how to tell you about her.'

'Don't worry about it, you can find some way to make it up to me after we've worked out what happened at the Sanders today.'

'I'm sure I can think of a few ways,' replied Jack leaning in closer to Ianto so that his hands were braced on the chair.

'I'm sure you can,' said Ianto.

'How about a little preview,' said Jack as he closed the distance between them bringing their lips together in a passionate kiss.

X

Please review :)


	5. Chapter 5

A/N. Hi all. Thank you all so much for the reviews for the last chapter, I really appreciated them. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. I wanted to let Ianto and Lexie have a little bonding time, but i never realised how hard it would be to write. I wrote so many different conversations between them, but just couldn't get the flow right. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out though and hopefully you will be too. Until next time, Kat :)

Chapter 5.

Fifteen minutes later and Lexie walked back into the main area of the Hub, hair still damp from her shower. She looked around and saw that Ianto was sat at a computer engrossed in whatever he was looking at. Jack was just coming down from his office; he smiled when he saw Lexie and walked over to her.

'How was the shower?' he asked.

'Good, not sure what I was expecting, but they were better than I thought they would be. It gave me time to gather my thoughts.'

'Oh,' said Jack, concerned at what this meant

'Yeah, so much has happened today I think it finally hit me,' she paused. 'I'm not going to let it get to me though, not yet. I need to try and keep my focus until we find out who was behind today. Then I can grieve properly, if I think about it too much now I'll be a mess and that won't help anybody.'

Jack wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. 'You are so brave, not that I expected anything less. We will find who did this and they will pay.'

'I know.'

The moment was interrupted by Jack's phone ringing. He retrieved it from his pocket and moved away to answer it. Lexie went and sat down on the sofa. She pulled out a notebook from her bag and started drawing on it.

'Can't you manage by yourselves?' asked Jack in an exasperated tone. 'What do you mean you found something I need to see? Can you stop being so cryptic Gwen.' Jack stopped to listen to Gwen's reply, 'Okay I'll be right over,' he said his tone changing to one of concern. He ended the call and then looked around the Hub for Ianto. He had moved away from his computer, this meant he was in one of two places, the kitchen or the Archives. As he hadn't said anything about going down to the Archives, Jack went into the kitchen and found Ianto at his coffee machine. Ianto sensing Jack had walked into the room turned to face him.

'Thought Lexie might need a drink. What is it?' he asked looking at the expression on Jack's face.

'I need to go out. Gwen just called. She said that her and Tosh have found something at Lexie's that I need to see. She won't go into detail on the phone, but she sounded worried.'

'What about Lexie?'

'She'll have to stay here; it's the safest place for her at the moment. Is that okay with you?'

'That's fine by me, but are you sure she'll be alright staying here with me?' Ianto asked, turning the question back onto Jack.

'She knows how much I trust you; I think she'll be okay. If I was trying to leave her with Gwen or Owen then we'd have a problem.' Jack said smiling and Ianto chuckled. 'Anyway, hopefully, I won't be long,' said Jack leaning into Ianto's personal space to snatch a quick kiss.

They walked out to where Lexie was sitting and she immediately looked up at them. 'What's going on?'

'I have to go out and deal with something, but I won't be long.'

'I'll come with you,' replied Lexie.

'No I need you to stay here with Ianto. It's the safest place for you right now.'

Lexie looked briefly in Ianto's direction. 'Okay, just promise you won't be long, because I would like to see daylight again at some point.'

'Promise, and at least you already have one thing in common to talk about,' said Jack grinning.

Ianto rolled his eyes, 'Like your ego needs any more boosting.'

'Oh I don't know,' said Lexie slyly. 'I could tell you about the time I was eleven and Jack took me on a day out to the park. It ended with him falling into the river.'

Ianto looked on in interest while Jack's eyes widened slightly and he shook his head at her. 'Maybe it isn't such a good idea leaving you two together,' Jack groaned.

'Actually I think it's a great idea,' said Ianto. He was genuinely interested in getting to know Lexie and in finding out about Jack from her. 'Go on, the sooner you go, the sooner you can come back.'

'Okay I'm going. Be good,' he said, kissing them both on the cheek before heading out of the cog door.

'I was just making a drink, do you want one?' asked Ianto.

'That'd be nice, thanks. I take milk and two sugars.'

Ianto turned and went back into the kitchen to finish off making the drinks he started earlier. He took the drinks he had made and went back out to the sofa and sat down next to Lexie, handing her one of the drinks.

She took a sip, 'Wow this is really good. I thought Jack was exaggerating when he described it.'

'Jack, exaggerate? Never,' said Ianto smiling. They fell into silence for a moment, but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. Lexie was the first to break it.

'You know I have wanted to meet you for ages, never expected it to be under circumstances like this though.'

'Really?' questioned Ianto, 'You wanted to meet me.'

Lexie smiled, 'Yeah, you're important to Jack, and anyone who's important to Jack is important to me.' Ianto blushed a little at Lexie's words. Lexie turned so that she was sitting crossed legged on the sofa facing Ianto. 'Look, I realise that I probably didn't make the greatest first impression earlier, but…

Ianto cut her off, 'Don't worry about it. Considering the day you've had I think you can be forgiven for not being in the best of moods.'

'True, if my parents could see me here now I think they'd be proud,' she said sadly.

'I'm sure they would,' replied Ianto. 'Can I ask you something?'

'Sure.'

'How often do you see Jack?' Ianto had been wondering this; he didn't think it was a regular occurrence as he was sure he would have noticed.

'Probably once a month, sometimes it's longer. We tend to communicate more through email nowadays. It was a lot more often when I was little, especially right at the beginning. Jack was really good to me, and he didn't have to be. Once he found someone to take me in, he could have walked away and not looked back, but he didn't. I suppose it's because he could understand my situation in a way no one else ever could. I'm just thankful he did, and I love him for it. He will always be family to me.'

'I'm glad you had him. Maybe when this is all over we can all go for dinner or something, get to know each other properly.'

'I'd like that; it would be nice to get to know you. Jack has told me a little about you, the others too, but only bits.'

'Like what?' Ianto was intrigued now.

'I know you have a sister, who has two children, and that you make the best coffee ever, which having tasted it I can agree with. Other than that it's usually about things he's planning or about how things went. He never tells me anything really personal about you,' Lexie added hurriedly.

'I never thought he would,' Ianto replied. He trusted that Jack wouldn't talk about anything really personal with Lexie. 'What has he said about the others?'

'Not much, mainly because we hardly ever talk about Torchwood. I know Toshiko is the computer genius. From the brief meeting I had with her earlier I get the sense she's quite shy, but could probably kick your ass if you upset her.'

Ianto smiled 'Yeah that sounds like Tosh. She's a really good person. It might not be my place, but I think you would get on alright with Tosh.'

'Maybe. As for the others, Jack told me that Owen was a doctor and that once you got to know him, you could see past the snarky comments. The only thing I could tell you about Gwen is that she was in the police, oh and she married someone called Rhys. After having met her I think he must have the patience of a saint.'

Ianto laughed, 'Rhys is a lovely bloke. He has put up with his fair share from Gwen.'

'I'm sure Gwen is lovely when you get to know her and I shouldn't judge people on first meetings, but it's hard when you have the ability I do. She had the strongest emotions out of any of you, and they were all over the place. She was obviously frustrated that Jack stopped her from asking anymore questions, she has a really inquisitive aura about her.'

'She is definitely inquisitive' replied Ianto.

'Part of it is because I was so emotional myself when I got here. My empathy is heightened when I'm upset or stressed; normally I can control it quite well. Jack taught me a few tricks.'

'Can you block it out completely?'

'No, I can always sense people, even Jack and he has some psychic training which means he can…' Lexie stopped her eyes widening as she realised something, she stood up abruptly and started pacing along the floor near the sofa.

Puzzled Ianto got up and stood in front of her, worried at what was happening. 'Lexie, what is it?'

'I just realised something. I can't believe I never realised before. I never felt them.' Ianto looked at her puzzled. Lexie looked at him, tears glistening in her eyes. 'Normally I can tell when someone new comes into the house, but I never felt them. Even when I tried to fight them off I couldn't sense them. That never happens; no one can shut their emotions off completely.'

'That would add to the theory that whoever was in your house either had technology that wasn't from this planet, or that maybe they weren't.'

'Why though? Why were they there?' Lexie was starting to breath harder now, and Ianto sensed she was about to have a panic attack.

'Lexie you have to listen to me. You need to take deep breaths and calm down okay.' Lexie nodded and started to take deep breaths, focusing on a spot on the wall above the sofa. Ianto reached out hesitantly and placed his hand on her back; when she didn't flinch away he started to rub soothing circles on her back. Eventually Lexie's breathing returned to normal.

'Sorry.'

'Its okay, come and sit down.'

As Ianto moved to help Lexie sit back down the lights in the Hub flickered off and an alarm sounded. As the emergency lighting kicked in Lexie looked at him panicked. 'What's that?'

Ianto sighed, he didn't want to tell her, but he knew he couldn't lie to her. He tried to hide his own unease at the situation and said, 'That's the intruder alarm.'

X

Please review xx


	6. Chapter 6

A/N. Hi, apologises again for such a long time inbetween updates but RL has been unkind to me recently, and it affected my writing. Anyway this story is back on track now and hopefully you are all still with me. :) I have to say a big thank you to sedeka, dwatlaskrh, harshinib and workingsomecoffeemagic for your reviews for the last chapter, i really appreciate them. This chapter picks up where the last one left off, but then does jump back a little so that you can see what Jack has been up too. A little more of the mystery is unveiled here and it might be a little confusing, but stick with me, you will get answers eventually. As always please review :) Kat xx.

Chapter 6.

'Run that by me again', said Lexie disbelievingly.

'That's the intruder alarm', repeated Ianto as he hurried over to the nearest workstation.

'Yeah, that's what I thought you said,' answered Lexie shaking her head, 'but how can you get intruders in this place, surely that's not possible?'

'You'd be surprised,' muttered Ianto remembering the times that the Hub had had unexpected visitors. 'Can you call Jack, while I see if I can get a fix on where the breach is.'

Lexie pulled her phone out of her pocket and hit the speed dial for Jack. She frowned when the automated voice told her it couldn't connect her call. She looked down at the phone screen, no signal. Lexie moved about holding her phone at different angles but still no signal. 'I can't get a signal,' she told Ianto.

Ianto looked at his own phone and found the same problem. 'Looks like they've cut the communications. Whoever has done this is damn good; I didn't think anyone could get through Tosh's security protocols. The only thing that hasn't happened yet is a loc…' Before he could finish the word 'lockdown' the sirens sounded again and the heavy noise of locks clicking into place was heard throughout the Hub. Lexie moved closer to Ianto and grabbed his arm.

'What's going on?' she whispered, her voice trembling.

'The Hub's automatically gone into lockdown, looks to be the one thing they couldn't override.'

'Meaning we're trapped in here with whoever broke in and have no way of communicating with the others.'

Ianto could tell Lexie was scared and part of him wanted to lie to her and tell her that everything was alright, but he knew she'd see straight through him. 'Pretty much, yeah.' Ianto felt Lexie's grip on his arm tighten. He turned to face her, 'Listen to me; I know you're scared right now, but we will get out. When the lockdown activates it triggers an alarm on the others PDA's. It's a precaution we took after a similar lockdown, that way we would know if something was happening back here.' Ianto thought it best not to mention that they were all locked in together once and had to call the police for help. 'It means that by now the others will have been alerted to the situation. Tosh also put in an override system in the tourist office so that those on the outside could get in.'

'We don't know how long that's gonna take though.'

'Knowing Jack as soon as the alert goes off he'll be in the SUV heading straight here, and you know how he drives on a good day, so think about how he'll drive knowing you're in danger.'

Lexie smiled slightly, 'True and you're in danger too, so that's twice as bad.'

In the distance Ianto could hear what sounded like footsteps getting closer, 'Lexie', he whispered, 'Can you sense anyone?'

Lexie concentrated for a minute then shook her head.' No, but I can hear something. It's like earlier I never felt anything then and can't feel anything now. Do you think it's the same people?'

'That's probably a good assumption. Come on we can't stay here.' Ianto checked his gun was fully loaded and then turned to Lexie. 'We just have to avoid them until the others get back. If we can get down to the archives we stand a better chance, I know them better than anyone, even in this dim lighting. Are you with me?' He held out his hand and after a few long seconds Lexie took it. Ianto was pleased that Lexie had decided that she could trust him. They moved as quietly as they could until they reached the corridor leading down to the archives. As they disappeared around the corner two figures emerged from the shadows into the main Hub.

X

Jack pulled up outside the Sanders house, not pleased that Gwen had called him to come out. He knew Lexie would be fine with Ianto, but after everything that had gone on that day he didn't want to leave her. Jack very rarely let people in, but from the first day he had met Lexie a bond had formed and she was family to him, when she was young she had called him Uncle Jack. He knew he was fiercely protective of her; it was something that would never change no matter how old she got. He got out of the SUV and strode up the path to the house; he ducked under the crime scene tape and into the house.

'Gwen. Tosh' he called.

'In the back room Jack,' came the Welsh accented reply.

Jack walked through the house and into the back room which turned out to be a study. He could see Gwen and Tosh examining various items that were laid out on a desk. 'What was so urgent it couldn't wait until we were back at the Hub?' He all but demanded.

Gwen and Tosh looked at him, put off slightly by his tone. 'We found some worrying information when we were looking through this room,' Gwen replied. 'Tosh stumbled across a hidden panel in the wall and all this was inside,' she said, gesturing to the things laid out on the table.

'The reason we called you instead of bringing them straight back to the Hub, is because we knew the moment we got in Lexie would know we'd found something and we thought it best you had a heads up on it be she found out.'

'Found out what?'

Tosh and Gwen exchanged wary glances before Tosh continued, 'It seems that Michael Sanders was expecting someone to come after Lexie. Just look at the journal entries.'

Jack went over to the table and looked at a few of the items, some of them had a familiar looking crest on them, but he couldn't place it at that moment. He picked up the journal and looked at one of the earliest entries, praying that Tosh had misread what was in it.

'_We can't get too attached to her, she won't be here forever. They will be back for her.'_

Jack frowned flipping further through the journal, reading snippets of entries as he did.

'_As time keeps passing I keep looking over my shoulder, never knowing if todays the day.' _

'_One of them is here, keeping watch. An advance guard I suppose until those charged with finding her can make it through. Problem with the Rift is there's no telling when they could get here, could be a week, could be ten years. I'm never going to understand how they are communicating and I'm too afraid to ask.'_

'_I wish I'd said something to someone. The only person it could have been was Jack and he would have done everything possible to make sure they didn't get to Lexie. He loves her like a daughter, I always wondered whether she would have been better off staying with him, she deserves better than me. I just hope that one day both Lexie and Jack can forgive me, but these people cannot be bargained with and by cooperating I hope me and Sandy can live through it. _

That was the last entry in the journal and Jack stared at it, shell shocked at what he had just read. His world view was tilting. He'd always believed that Michael Sanders was one of the good guys, but here in black and white was proof that he had been involved in some kind of conspiracy involving Lexie from the start. How? Jack had no idea, he was going to have to go through everything to try and work out what was going on. Then he thought about Lexie, he had no clue how he was going to tell her about this. From the snippets he had read it seemed as if someone from Lexie's own time was trying to get her back and by the looks of it someone had been keeping an eye on her. He looked back at that entry and saw it was dated 6 years earlier, Jack shivered at the thought of someone keeping tabs on Lexie that long. Jack knew little of Lexie's life before she came to this time, she was reluctant to talk about it and he never pushed it, sensing it wasn't a happy time for her. He had so many questions, in particular how were they able to track her and then travel back in time? Jack knew that the concept of time travel was a lot easier in the future, but it was still only a limited few who had access to it. He ran his hands over his face and through his hair taking a calming breath before turning to the others. 'You did the right thing. I'm going to have to talk to Lexie when we get back. You are going to need to bring all this back too; some of it needs to be translated. Hopefully we can get some clues from it.'

'Do you think Lexie had any idea about these things?' enquired Tosh.

'No, because she would have said something. Did you find anything else?'

'Yes, there was some residual Rift energy at the front of the house. Not enough to set off a Rift alert though.'

Gwen was about to say something when she was interrupted by a loud beeping sound. She looked at her PDA, so did Tosh and Jack checked his wrist strap.

'Oh no' exclaimed Tosh, 'that's the Hub's lockdown alert!'

Jacks eyes went wide with shock and he grabbed his phone, dialling Iantos number, but the call wouldn't connect. 'Damn it,' he cursed. 'Grab that stuff and get back to the Hub as soon as you can,' Jack called as he had already started running down the hallway. He ran out of the house, feet pounding the pavement as he headed to the SUV. As he opened the door his phone rang. 'Ianto?' he said hopefully.

'No, it's Owen. What's going on the Hub's lockdown alert just went off on my PDA?'

'I don't know I had to come out to the scene with Gwen and Tosh. Where are you?'

'On my way back, I'll meet you there in 10 minutes.'

'Make it 5,' replied Jack. He snapped his phone shut and got in the driver's seat flooring the accelerator, praying Ianto and Lexie were alright.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and also to those who added the story onto alert/favourites, i really appreciate it. This is the longest chapter so far and there are some more clues in this one. Enjoy and please review. Kat :)

Chapter 7.

Ianto led Lexie away from the main area of the Hub and down towards the archives. The lighting wasn't great down there during a lockdown, but he wasn't worried as he knew this area inside out. He was sure that the others must have been alerted to the lockdown initiating by now, so hopefully they were on their way back. He led them round a corner into a room filled with shelves of artefacts, carefully listening to hear if there was any movement coming their way, but it was silent. Keeping his voice down low Ianto said, 'I think we'll be alright here for a minute.'

Lexie nodded and let go of his hand, which she had been holding on to since they started moving, it had made her feel grounded. It also made her feel safer, almost like she did when she was with Jack. She could tell that Ianto was apprehensive about what was happening, but she could feel his determination to make sure that they both kept safe. She leant against the wall and sighed, 'To think today started out like any other day.'

Ianto moved so that he was standing in front of her, 'Listen to me, we are going to work this out okay. We will find out who they are and make them pay for what they have done to you and your family. We just have to hold our nerve a little longer until the others get back.'

Lexie nodded, 'I know I'm sorry.'

'You have nothing to apologise for.' They were silent for a moment until the sound of footsteps broke through the silence. 'Come on, we need to move again.'

They left the room and crept along the corridor, Ianto had his gun held out in front of him, something didn't feel right. He stopped and made sure Lexie was right behind him. She had picked up his sense of unease and asked, 'What's wrong?'

'I don't know but something doesn't feel right.'

'No one could have got by us yet though could they? We would have heard them.' Lexie was starting to get anxious now.

Before he could reply a moving shadow caught his eye and he spun around, still pointing his gun. Out from the shadows in front of them stepped a woman, who was also armed, although it was not any weapon Ianto had seen before.

'Drop the weapon,' Ianto said his voice full of steely determination.

'I could say the same to you sweetheart,' replied the woman, smiling dangerously at them.

'I don't know how you got in here, or how you managed to find us, but you are not going to hurt Lexie.'

'I'm not the one you should be worrying about,' said the woman and her eyes glanced over Ianto's shoulder and she smirked.

At that moment her partner stepped out from behind them and grabbed Lexie.

X

The SUV screeched to a halt on the Plass and Jack ran down to the tourist office where Owen was already waiting for him. Jack entered the code to get into the office and then practically leaped over the desk to find the console so that he could override the lockdown. An automated voice replied to the command with, 'The lockdown will cease in one minute.' Jack almost growled in frustration.

'Calm down Harkness,' said Owen, 'You're going to be no good to anyone in this state.'

Jack sighed and started pacing while waiting for the lockdown to cease. As he did Gwen and Tosh came running in through the door, arms full of the things they had picked up earlier. As the door concealing the entrance finally opened Jack turned to his team. 'First priority is to locate Ianto and Lexie. Be on high alert though because whoever broke into here is good. They got through our systems and I suspect they are the same people who killed the Sanders earlier, so we know what they are capable of.' This is the part that worried Jack the most, while he figured Lexie would still be alive because they needed her, Ianto was of no importance to them and if he stood in their way then… Jack let that thought trail off, he wasn't going to go there.

They went as stealthily and quickly as they could until they were in the main Hub. Tosh started to type on her computer, bringing up the layout of the Hub to try and locate Ianto and Lexie. She gasped and Jack came to look over her shoulder, 'I've got heat signatures in the archives, but Jack, there are four of them.' She turned and looked at him fearfully.

'It's going to be okay Tosh,' he replied trying to sound as sure as he could. 'Here's what we're going to do.'

X

Lexie screamed as she felt someone grab her from behind. One arm wrapped around her shoulders pinning her against the body behind her, with his free arm the man put his hand over her mouth. It was then she noticed that in the hand that was around her shoulders the man had a gun. 'Now there's no need for that,' the man said. 'Scream again and someone might get hurt.' He nodded to his partner who stepped up to Ianto and pressed her weapon against his back.

Ianto now had his gun pointing at the man holding Lexie, 'Let her go.'

The man laughed, 'I really don't think you are in any position to be making demands. Drop your weapon' the man pointed his gun at Lexie, and Ianto knew there was nothing he could do at that moment. He slowly put his gun on the ground, all the while praying the others weren't far away.

'Good. You're lucky we don't just shoot you. We don't like it when people get in our way, those two from this morning can attest to that.' At his words Lexie started to struggle against him again. 'Sorry did I say something to upset you,' he said mockingly. 'Tell you what I'll move my hand and you can have your say, but scream and your friend over there will get a bullet in him.' He let his hand drop and he spun her around so that she was facing him.

'Those people were my parents and you killed them in cold blood. What did they ever do to you?' She hissed, anger starting to override the fear she was feeling.

The man just smiled at her, 'Lexie, still with that fiery spirit you always had, ever since you were a child.'

Lexie just stared at him, stunned. 'What?' She looked around at Ianto who looked as confused as she felt. 'Who are you?'

'You don't remember me do you? Though I suppose for you it's a lifetime ago, for me no more than a few months since I last walked you to school.'

Lexie's eyes widened in recognition and she felt the colour drain from her face. She put her hand out to steady herself on the wall of the archives. Ianto looked on helplessly, as the man stood in between them; he still didn't risk making a move.

'You remember now.' The man said.

Lexie looked closely at the man's face, and the clothes he was wearing. She hadn't noticed it before, but it was a uniform and she recognised the crest on it immediately. 'Byron' she whispered.

The man smiled, 'See you do remember.'

Lexie blinked back tears that were threatening to spill. 'You can't be here, it's not possible.'

'You came here.'

'That was an accident; I can't believe you ended up here by accident too. I don't believe in coincidences,' Lexie replied her voice getting stronger.

'We were sent here to find you and bring you home.'

'This is my home.'

'No it's not. We were sent here to take you back to where you belong. It's a shame so much time has passed for you, but you have grown up into such a beautiful young woman.' The man, Byron, said as he reached out his hand to stroke his fingers down her face.

Lexie flinched away from the touch, 'Go away and leave me alone. I'm going nowhere.'

'Yes you are and we are bringing your friend over there along as insurance so that you do as we say.'

At that moment Lexie became aware of another presence nearby. She looked over at Ianto and smiled slightly before fixing Byron with a hard stare. 'No.'

'It seems you need to be taught some manners,' said Byron and he raised his hand up. Lexie shut her eyes and instinctively tried to brace herself what was to come, but the blow didn't land, instead she heard.

'Now that's no way to treat a lady.' Lexie opened her eyes and saw Jack behind Byron holding on to his arm. He turned him around and punched him hard in the face sending Byron sprawling onto the floor, and knocking him out. As he did this Ianto turned and grabbed hold of the woman's arm that was holding the gun, he slammed it against the wall causing her to cry out and drop it. As she went to lash out at him, her face suddenly registered as one of shock and she fell to the ground, revealing Owen who was holding a stun gun.

'Thought you might need some help tea boy,' he said grinning.

Ianto rolled his eyes at the nickname, then said, 'Thanks.' He looked over to where the Jack and Lexie were. Lexie had slid down onto the floor looking shell shocked; tears were slowly making their way down her face. Jack was crouched down in front of her. He turned and looked at Ianto and Owen. He wanted nothing more than to go over and put his arms around Ianto, to make sure he was okay, but Lexie had to be his priority at that moment. 'Ianto, are you okay?' He asked turning to look at the man in question.

'I'm okay, he replied softly. He knew could tell what was on Jacks mind. 'We'll take care of getting these two to the cells, you take care of Lexie.'

'Make sure you get Tosh to scan them to find out what sort of equipment they have on them, they didn't just walk in here.' Ianto nodded and between him and Owen they set about taking the male intruder down to the cells.

Jack turned back to face Lexie. 'Lexie, come on look at me…its okay you're safe now.' He reached out and gently pulled her into his arms, eventually he felt her arms wind around him taking comfort from the embrace. He saw from the corner of his eye Gwen and Tosh come down for the other intruder and was pleased that neither of them said anything and just got the job done.

'Why is this happening to me Jack?' came a small voice that was muffled by his shoulder.

'I don't know Lexie, I wish I did.' Jack took a deep breath, holding back his own emotions. 'Come on we can't stay down here, we need to go back up to the Hub.' Jack stood up, bringing Lexie with him. They walked back along the corridor and into the main area where Tosh was just bringing the lights back up to full power. Jack had got her to leave it on the emergency setting in the hopes that no one would realise they had shut off the lockdown until it was too late. He steered Lexie to the battered old sofa, and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. 'I'm just going to go and check that everything's alright and I'll be right back.' Lexie nodded bringing the blanket tighter around her like a protective cocoon.

Jack got up and walked over to a table near Tosh's workstation, noticing a various gadgets now littering the table. As he approached Tosh asked, 'How is she?'

'She'll be a lot better when we work out what's going on. What's all this?'

'This is what we took off the two intruders. I can also explain how they are getting around unnoticed.' Tosh typed in some instructions on her keyboard and bought up the CCTV. Jack watched as one second there was nothing on the camera and then suddenly two people materialized.

'Teleport?' Jack shook his head, 'I should have thought of that.'

'It's not that obvious,' replied Tosh. 'All their devices are here now, but I disabled their transport systems just in case.'

'Good work Tosh.' Jack then moved towards the kitchen where he could see Ianto.

Ianto, sensing that Jack was approaching, put down the mug he was holding. Jacks pace quickened and he as soon as he reached Ianto he reached out and pulled him close, their lips mere centimetres apart when Jack whispered, 'I was so worried.'

'It's okay, we were fine,' replied Ianto. He then closed the final gap and pressed his lips to Jacks, pouring everything into that one kiss to reassure Jack. Somewhat reluctantly they eventually pulled apart.

'I know we have those two in the cells now, but this isn't over is it.' stated Ianto.

Jack shook his head, 'No. I need to go through Michael's things, but it seems as though he knew someone would be coming for Lexie. It also looks as though someone has been here keeping an eye on her for quite a while.'

'Oh poor Lexie, how much more can she take?' Ianto paused for a moment then said, 'Jack about what happened in the archives, there's something you should know.'

'What's that?'

'Lexie knew the man, said his name was Byron. She didn't recognise him at first, but when she did; I thought she was going to pass out.'

'From the brief extracts of a journal that I read at the Sanders it seems that someone from her own time wants her back, and they aren't going to stop at anything to achieve that.' Jack thought for moment then said, 'Okay can you bring us some drinks, and then I think Lexie and I need a long chat.'

'You think she knows more than she's letting on?'

'Possibly, although I'm convinced she doesn't know it. It has something to do with her past before she got here. I've never pushed her on what her life was like before, but I'm going to have to now.'

'Do you want me with you? I can be support for you both.'

'Yeah, thanks.' Jack leant forward and pressed a chaste kiss to Iantos lips before standing up straight and saying, 'Let's get this over with.' He then left the kitchen and headed back over to Lexie.

X


	8. Chapter 8

A/N. Hi everyone, i'm back with another chapter. I want to say thank you to rosieposy for her review for the last chapter, i really appreciate it. Did anyone listen to the radio plays last week? It was so nice to have Ianto in them. House of the Dead was my favourite, got slightly emotional though! Anyway enough rambling and on with the chapter. A little bit of the mystery is starting to be revealed and there will be more in the next chapter. As always please review, they really do encourage me to carry on. Kat xx.

Chapter 8.

Jack made sure that Tosh, Owen and Gwen were busy at their workstations before going over to where Lexie was still sat on the sofa, huddled in the blanket. Ianto had put the drinks he'd made down on the table and sat next to her. Jack pulled up a chair and sat in front of them. He looked at Lexie who had her head down, seemingly very interested in the floor. Jack reached out and put his fingers under her chin to lift her head so she was looking him in the eye. Her eyes were sad and filled with tears that were threatening to spill over.

'Hey, it's okay. Those people are in the cells now; everything's going to be okay.'

Lexie shook her head then whispered, 'This is all my fault.'

Jack took Lexie's hands in his own and replied, 'No it isn't'.

'It is. It's my fault my parents are dead, my fault they broke in here, my fault Ianto got hurt…'

'I'm fine,' Ianto interjected, 'Jack's right this isn't your fault.'

Lexie pulled her hands away from Jack's and picked up her mug of coffee. She wrapped her hands tightly around it before taking a sip and then staring at it intensely as if it would give her answers. Jack sighed, Lexie looked as though the fight had gone from her. The only other time he had seen her like this was after she had come through the Rift.

'Lexie, I know this is hard for you right now, but we need to talk about the man that we have in the cells. Do you know him?'

'Yes,' Lexie replied. 'His name is Byron and he's from my home colony. He works for the Hopkins family'.

At her words Ianto looked confused as he didn't know anything about the time Lexie came from. One look at Jack though told him that this was not good news. Jack's eyes had widened in shock and for a moment Ianto thought he saw a brief flicker of fear in his eyes.

'I knew I recognised that symbol,' Jack muttered. 'It was the Hopkins crest.'

'Sorry to show my ignorance here, but who are the Hopkins family?' asked Ianto.

'The best analogy I can come up with is their kind of like the Mafia, except the exploits of their boss put the Mafia to shame,' Jack said. 'The man is charge is Thomas Hopkins and from what I heard of him he was an extremely cruel man. He has control of about half a dozen colonies and uses fear and intimidation to get what he wants. I heard the stories when I was with the Time Agency, they sent people in on more than one occasion to try and bring him down. None ever came back though. He'd have more than enough money and pull to do something like this. I just don't understand what his interest is in you?' He said looking at Lexie, who now seemed to be visibly shrinking back into the blanket. 'Were you're family in trouble with him?'

'No it's not that'.

'Then what is it? Help me out here Lexie.'

'There's a reason I never told you about where I came from. I knew that there was a chance you would have heard of the Hopkins family and I thought you'd treat me differently if you knew.' Lexie paused to take a breath and looked at a spot on the wall above Jacks head before continuing. 'Thomas Hopkins is my father.'

Jack went to say something, but found the words wouldn't come out. Of all the things he had been expecting that was the absolute last thing he would have thought of. He thought that maybe Lexie's family had owed Hopkins money, or that they were indentured to work for him, but this. He needed to clarify what he had just heard. 'Thomas Hopkins is your father? I heard that right.'

'Yeah,' came the hushed reply.

Jack stood up and started pacing in front of the sofa. 'You should have told me.'

'Why? I hated my father and the one good thing about ending up here was that I got away from him. You may have heard the stories about him, but believe me, you know nothing,' Lexie said strongly.

'That's not the point. You were a kid when you ended up here, I wouldn't have held who your father was against you.'

'I was scared and by the time I felt safe here I didn't see the point in telling you. How was I supposed to know this was going to happen? I have no idea how he could even do this.' Lexie's voice had risen now and it started to attract the attention of the others in the Hub. She had also stood up, shrugging the blanket off her shoulders.

'Yeah, well it turns out you weren't the only one keeping things close to their chest,' gritted out Jack in his frustration. Almost immediately he regretted his words.

'What?' asked Lexie. 'Did someone else know about me?'

Jack sighed, he had wanted to talk about his findings in Michael's diary when things had calmed done, not like this. 'I think that someone has been watching you for a while.'

'How do you know that?'

Jack took a step towards Lexie, but she took a step back. 'We found Michael's diary and in it he talks about someone being sent to watch you. I've only seen bits, but it sounds as though he knew someone would come back for you.'

'You're lying!' shouted Lexie. 'There's no way my dad would do that to me. He would have told me.'

'I'm sorry Lexie, its true. I didn't want you to find out like this.' Jack reached out towards her, but Lexie moved away from him again.

'Get away from me.' Lexie turned away from him and started to walk away. She stormed across the Hub and up the stairs to the boardroom where she slammed the door behind her. She didn't have a lot of options because she knew she couldn't leave. As soon as the door slammed behind her Lexie slid down the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. She then wrapped her arms around them and dropped her head as she started sobbing.

Jack went to follow Lexie, but was stopped when Ianto stood in front of him and put his hand out onto his chest to stop him. 'Leave her Jack, she needs her space.'

Jack deflated slightly, 'I shouldn't have said what I did, I never meant it to come out like that. I'm not angry at her, I'm angry at Michael, hell I'm angry at this whole situation. I just don't know what to do right now.'

'I know Jack. I think some of that anger was her channelling you, that can happen right?'

'If emotions are high they rub off on her. I need to talk to her.'

'Not now you don't, you need to calm down or else all you'll do is argue again. I'll go and see she's alright.' Ianto leant forward and pecked a kiss to Jack's lips before walking towards the boardroom.

Jack turned around to see the others hurriedly turn back to what they were doing. He walked over to the workstations. 'Anyone got anything?'

Tosh looked up and gave Jack a small smile. 'I've been trying to get a read on the signature of the teleport devices so that I know what to look for in case there are others out there.'

'Good,' replied Jack. 'Owen, Gwen?'

'We've been going through the diaries, but so far there's not much on who might have been here keeping an eye on Lexie, other than whoever it is, is male.'

'Keep looking; I'm going to go and have a word with our guests.' With that Jack turned on his heel and started to walk down towards the cells. He needed answers and he would do whatever it took to get them.

X

Please review xx.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hi, I can imagine that you are surprised to see an update to this story as it has been 16 months since i last updated. I can not apologise enough, but i am really sorry. The latter half of 2011 was not good for me and it has taken a while to get real life back on track. Anyway you don't want to know about all my problems so i'll get on with it. The good news is i am now in a good place and writing again. This story will be finished and hopefully quite soon as there aren't too many chapters to go. I hope that people are still interested in reading how this story turns out and i appreciate your patience in waiting for this. Please review even if it's just to let me know you are still with me. Thank you Kat :)

Chapter 9. 

Ianto slowly made his way up to the boardroom. When he reached the doorway he took in the sight of Lexie sat against the wall, knees pulled up to her chest and her face buried in her arms. From the way her shoulders were shaking he could tell she was crying. He knocked on the door lightly to alert her to his presence. Lexie looked up with red rimmed eyes and then looked away towards the window as Ianto entered the room. He offered her a tissue which she took with a small smile. "Seems all I've done in the last few hours is cry," she said wiping her face.

"I think you have a good reason," replied Ianto. "May I sit here?" he asked pointing to the space next to her.

"Sure", said Lexie as she stretched her legs out in front of her. "He's angry with me isn't he? Lexie questioned as Ianto sat next to her. It took Ianto a second to understand what she was asking, but then it clicked that she was referring to Jack and what had happened downstairs.

"Jack is angry, yes, but not at you". He held up a hand to forestall the retort on Lexies lips. "I realise you could feel Jacks emotions and that they were very strong. I also sense that you were channelling them somewhat." Ianto knew he was right by the blush that appeared on Lexies cheeks. "I think he may be a little upset that you never trusted him enough to tell him about your past completely, but he'll get over that. If things were as bad as you say then it's no wonder you kept it to yourself".

"I never saw the need to tell anyone I hated my father and when I realised I was safe from him I was so happy. It took time, I mean I didn't have the best time when I first got here and then I was convinced he'd find me somehow. I eventually told Jack a little about my family life, enough that he knew it was hard, but by then it was literally a whole different life and I pushed it out of my mind. I knew Jack had travelled through space and there was a fear he would know my father and I couldn't risk it. Turns out I was right", she added bitterly.

"Jack knows you are nothing like your father and once he gets over the shock of finding out nothing will change".

"You can't be sure of that".

"Believe me, I can be very persuasive."

Lexie laughed at that. "I bet, but please spare me the details." Ianto smiled and gently bumped his shoulder against Lexies. She sighed and asked, "What's going to happen now?"

"Well Tosh is working on how these guys have been getting about, Gwen has been looking through your dad's diary and Jack has gone to talk to our guests."

Lexie groaned at that last statement. "That won't go well, Byron has the uncanny ability of rubbing people up the wrong way and with the mood Jack was in…" she trailed off.

"Its okay, Owen is keeping an eye on the cells in case intervention is needed." Ianto paused; broaching the subject of what was in the diary again wasn't going to be easy. Tosh had asked him on the way up here to ask her about people who could be suspects. Lexie obviously picked up on his nervousness.

"What else?" she asked.

Ianto smiled, "I keep forgetting I can't hide anything from you. In one of the diaries it mentions someone who has been watching you for some time. It seems they were tasked with keeping tabs on you until the others could come through."

"This just keeps on getting better and better," muttered Lexie. "Any clues as to who it might be?"

"Going on what we can from the diary, it's a male and he has been here for around six years."

Lexie looked thoughtful at this. "I don't have a lot of friends as I find it difficult to trust people, and hiding my empathic abilities is hard too. It can't be someone I'm too close to as I can count them on one hand and I've known them all for longer than six years." Lexie leaned her head back against the wall as she continued to think on the problem. "I really don't know, sorry."

"That's okay; whoever it is could have been watching from a distance, you may never have even spoken to them. I have a feeling though that with the way things have been escalating today they will show themselves soon enough."

Lexie took a deep breath and stood up. "Right, I'm done with hiding up here, I need to help find out what's going on and to prepare myself for the possibility of having to deal with my father. I need to look at dad's diaries to see if I can get anything from them."

Ianto stood up too. "You sure you're up for it?"

"No not really but I want to put a stop to whatever's going on as soon as possible."

Ianto nodded, "We'll be with you every step of the way." With that they left the boardroom and headed down to the main hub.

XX

While Ianto had gone up to the boardroom to talk to Lexie, Jack had made his way down to the cells to talk to Byron. He was still upset about what had transpired between him and Lexie. Jack hadn't meant to give Lexie the impression that he was angry with her. He was the last person to judge someone for keeping their past a secret. He couldn't blame her for keeping the fact Thomas Hopkins was her father a secret, the guy was a bastard. There was one thing that Jack was certain of though and that was no matter what Hopkins tried he was not getting Lexie back, he would protect her with his life. Jack reached the cells and turned to the one Byron was in, "I want to know what your plan was and who else is here?"

"Straight to the point I see," sneered Byron. "I appreciate that. Plan was simple really, bring Lexie home."

"Not going to happen, Lexie lives here now and she's not going anywhere."

"So protective, but it won't matter Mr Hopkins always gets his way."

Jack moved closer to the glass of the cell, "Well Mr Hopkins will have to get used to the taste of failure."

Byron laughed, "Whatever you say. The plan to return Lexie to where she belongs has been a long time in the making."

"Help me understand something, why does Hopkins want Lexie back so badly, I mean the effort and expense he must have gone to so that he could send people back in time through the Rift to get her must have been immense."

"He has the means to do all this and as to why it's so important, you would have to take it up with him. I am but a loyal servant, who will do whatever is asked of him."

Jack rolled his eyes in a very Ianto like manner at this. He wasn't going to get anywhere with this guy. "Who else is here?" he repeated his earlier question.

"Someone who has been very useful to our cause. At home his name was Mac, but I do not know what he goes by here."

Jack moved away from the glass and turned to walk back up to the main up, coming down to the cells had been a waste of time, but at least he had calmed down. As he walked away, he turned and said, "Make yourself comfortable because you are going to be there long time." He then strode out of the cell area and up the stairs back to the main hub. When he got there he spotted Lexie and walked over to her. "I'm sorry for earlier, I wasn't mad at you."

"I know and I'm sorry for storming off." Lexie moved closer and gave Jack a hug. As she was pulling away her phone started to ring. "Hello".

"Hello Lexie", came a deep voice on the other end, one she had hoped to never hear again. It was her fathers, he had found her.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hi there, well this was a much quicker update than last time! I would like to thank PCJanto and workingsomecoffeemagic for their reviews of the last chapter, it meant a lot :) I'm not one hundred per cent happy with this chapter, because i'm not sure i got all my ideas across how i wanted. This chapter is mainly conversations, but you start to get some answers and it is leading up to a big confrontation in the next chapter. There are only two chapters left after this one so the story is coming to the end. Please enjoy this chapter and it would be lovely if you could review. Thank you Kat :)

Chapter 10.

As soon as Lexie answered her phone and heard her father's voice for the first time in sixteen years, her eyes widened and her face looked startled. This caused the atmosphere in the hub to drop instantly as the other occupants sensed Lexies discomfort. Lexie's breathing started to get shallow as panic built up inside her as she tried to form a response. Jack stepped closer, a worried look on his face and he rested a hand on her arm. Lexie flinched as she was dragged back to the present and away from her thoughts.

"This isn't real, it can't be," she whispered. Jack looked at her puzzled and she mouthed 'father' at him. It took less than a minute for recognition to cross Jack's features over exactly who was on the phone. Jack gestured for her to hand the phone over, but Lexie shook her head. As much as she didn't want to talk to her birth father she knew she had to do this. She needed to be strong, plus Thomas would just make Jack angry and that wouldn't help matters. Instead of taking the phone, Jack went over to the others and informed them what was happening and Tosh set straight to work trying to trace the call.

"Believe me it is very real," replied the stern voice of Thomas Hopkins. "It's been too long Lexie."

"Not long enough" muttered Lexie. "What do you want? Surely I'm not worth the time and effort you must have put in to get here." Lexie could see Jack had moved into her line of sight again and this gave her some comfort. She caught his eye and he mouthed 'speaker'. With slightly shaky fingers Lexie moved the phone from her ear and pressed the speaker button on so that the others could hear both sides of the conversation.

"There are many things I want Lexie and you should know better than anyone that if I have a goal, nothing will stop me".

"That's because you're a ruthless, hard hearted bastard who steps on anyone he deems in his way, damn the consequences," replied Lexie.

"That is no way to speak to your father!" came the angry reply.

"You are not my father." The fear that Lexie had felt earlier when she answered her phone was now being replaced with anger. This was the man that made her childhood a nightmare, because of him her mother had taken a risk and ran away only to die in the process. Plus she was happy with her life here and Thomas Hopkins was not going to ruin it. "I think you should just gather your minions together and go home because you are not getting anything from me."

While the conversation was going on Jack was getting more and more agitated. He was concerned about how this would affect Lexie, but also about what Hopkins was planning. He had to admit though Lexie was holding her own. Ianto was standing with him, listening intently to what was going on, all the while holding on to Jacks hand, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on it. "Just keep calm," he whispered. "Lexie can handle herself and hopefully we can get some information." Jack nodded his agreement.

"I have sent you a link to a video that I think will convince you to change your mind."

"Nice try, but I'm not falling for it."

"Maybe it's not me you need to listen to." There was a rustling sound on the other end of the phone as it was passed over to someone else, before a timid female voice said, "Lexie, is that you?"

Lexie recognised the voice instantly. "Mel?"

"It's me Lex. I don't know what's going on, but please look at the link you've been sent."

Lexie was about to ask something else when the phone was snatched away from Mel and Thomas spoke again. "You have five minutes before I call you back." The line went dead.

As the call ended there was a flurry of activity in the hub. "Did you get anything Tosh?" Jack asked as he hurried over to her workstation.

"Sorry, but no. The signal is bouncing off every satellite you can think of, and there is some serious encryption of some of the servers. I can't break it fast enough before it moves again."

"Keep looking to see if anything comes up." Jack walked over to Lexie who was hooking her phone up to Ianto's workstation so they could all see the link. "How are you holding up?" He asked as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

Lexie gave him a wry smile, "I think I'm just about holding it together. I can't believe he's really here and he has Mel with him."

"Who is Mel?" asked Ianto.

"Mel's been my best friend since I was 10. Whoever has been watching me has done a good job of informing Hopkins of what is important to me." Lexie clicked on the link and a video popped up on the screen, the whole team gathered around to watch it.

A man appeared on the screen and by the way Lexies eyes narrowed they guessed it was Thomas Hopkins. "Hello Lexie, I knew you would be difficult so I made sure I had a failsafe to get you to comply with my wishes." Here, the camera panned around to a room where there were four people, two guys and two girls, huddled together. "As you can see I have gathered together a few of your closest friends to keep me company while I wait. At the moment they seem to be in very good health, but should you prove to be difficult, that may change." He walked over to one of the guys and proceeded to kick him in the stomach. "I'll be in touch".

By now Lexie was struggling to hold back her tears. "This is my fault; my friends are in danger because of me."

Jack turned her to face him and said, "Stop that train of thought right now. This is not your fault, there is no way you could have known this was going to happen. If anything I should have known something wasn't right and protected you."

Before she could argue, Lexies phone rang again. "You saw my video."

"What do you want?" Lexie asked.

"It's quite simple really. When your mother ran away, she tampered with some very important systems that I have. What she tried to do was ruin me, but she did it in such a hurry it was not a complete success. While these systems were not of critical importance at the time, they will be soon and I need them back online."

"Okay, I don't see what that has to do with me, you need mom and she's dead."

"That's where you're wrong. The locks your mom set on my systems were keyed into her DNA, her family knew a lot about blood magic's and she channelled this into her plan. While her being dead maybe a problem, part of her still lives on through you."

"What if I refuse?"

"I think we both know you won't do that, not with your friend's lives at stake. You will meet me in one hour, warehouse 10 at the docks. Now I'm not naïve enough to say come alone because I know right now that Captain Harkness and his team are going to be listening in. I will say this though, don't underestimate how far my reach is, I have surveillance all over. See you soon." The phone was then abruptly hung up.

"I didn't think it was possible to hate him anymore than I already did, but it seems I was proven wrong," said Lexie. "So what are we going to do?"

"You aren't going to do anything," replied Jack. "I'm not having you anywhere near him."

"I don't think that's going to be an option and you know it. If I don't show my friends are dead."

Jack sighed he really didn't like this, but he knew she was right.

"I have a question," said Gwen breaking the silence that fallen over them. "What does he mean by the 'blood magic's?"

"Blood magic's use ancient rituals that have been passed down through the generations. In my time it was virtually unheard of to use them because everything is so technology driven. They are very powerful though. I had no idea that my mom knew how to use them. She told me stories of her ancestors who used them, she must have used a ritual to try and bring Hopkins down. Everything he does is on some sort of computer, all his plans for the colonies he runs and wants to take over. His finances too are all handled by technology. Without these systems, he would be ruined, no money, no power."

"There's something else that we need to factor in." Everyone turned to look at Owen who had until this point been quiet. "We still don't know who has been here following Lexie. They could be part of the surveillance or they could be with the hostages playing a part."

"Good point Owen," answered Jack. "We are going to have to be on high alert the whole time. Tosh can you bring up a plan of the docks and that warehouse?"

"Already on it Jack," replied Tosh, her fingers moving swiftly over the keyboard.

Jack walked over to Lexie and pulled her aside. "Do you think you'll be able to handle this?"

Lexie took a deep breath. "I have to. This needs to end, today. Thomas Hopkins has to learn that he cannot keep ruining lives."

"He will. We are going to teach him a lesson he won't forget in a hurry, and I will do anything it takes to protect you, my team and anyone else he tries to harm." As Jack made his pledge, a plan was forming in his mind. Before today was out Thomas Hopkins would no longer cause trouble to anyone.


End file.
